Amphiphilic block copolymers can self-assemble to nanoscopic, core/shell structures in which the hydrophobic core acts as a microreservoir for the encapsulation of drugs, proteins or DNA; and the hydrophilic shell interfaces the media. Among different block copolymers designed for drug delivery, those with polyethylene oxide (PEO), as the shell-forming block, and polyester or poly amino acids (PLAA), as the core-forming block, are of increasing interest. This is owed to the biocompatibility of PEO and potential biodegradability of polyester and PLAA, which make them safe for human administration.
It is generally known that poly amino acids (PLAA) structures are advantageous over polyesters since PLAA can potentially form covalent or electrostatic attachment with drugs, drug compatible moieties, genes or intelligent vectors through free functional groups, such as amine or carboxylic acid, on the amino acid chain. Thus, changes in the length of the hydrophobic/hydrophilic blocks, chemical structure of the side chains and the level of substitution may be used to achieve desired stability, biodegradation, drug loading, release, or activation properties.
Through chemical engineering of the core structure in PEO-b-PLAA based micelles, desired properties for the delivery of doxorubicin (DOX), amphotericin B, methotrexate, cisplatin and paclitaxel has been achieved. For instance, a 40 to 50% of DOX substitution and a decrease in the proportion of P(Asp)-DOX to PEO has been used to increase the stability of micelles formed from DOX conjugates of PEO-b-poly(L-aspartic acid). The PEO-b-PAsp-DOX micelles were later utilized to physically encapsulate DOX. Taking advantage of a strong interaction between chemically conjugated and physically encapsulated drug, a novel formulation with efficient solubilization and release properties has been developed for doxorubicin, which is currently in clinical trials in Japan (see Matsumura Y, HamaguchI T, Ura T et al.: Phase I clinical trial and pharmacokinetic evaluation of NK911, a micelle-encapsulated doxorubicin. Br J Cancer (2004) 91(10):1775-1781).
The present inventors have also previously prepared a PEO-b-PLAA based micellar system with saturated fatty acid esters in the core to encapsulate an aliphatic drug, amphotericin B (AmB). The micellar core was fine tuned chemically so that it can effectively sustain the rate of AmB release (see Lavasanifar A, Samuel J, Kwon G S: Micelles of poly(ethylene oxide)-block-poly(N-alkyl stearate L-aspartamide): synthetic analogues of lipoproteins for drug delivery. J Biomed Mater Res (2000) 52(4):831-835). While not wishing to be limited by theory, the formation of more hydrolysable bonds, such as ester bonds, for instance, appears to suggest that micelle-forming block copolymer-drug conjugates can be used to form micelles with sufficient drug release properties. This approach has been utilized to attach methotrexate (MTX) to PEO-b-PLAA. The level of attached MTX is used to control the stability of the polymeric micelles and the rate of drug release.
While there has been progress made in the design, synthesis and discovery of novel polymeric poly amino acids, the biodegradability of these different structures has not been exploited fully. Although polyesters have had a history of safe application in human, in general, they are less suitable for chemical engineering due to the lack of functional groups on the polymeric backbone. Thus, there remains a need to continually design and develop PEO-b-polyester block copolymers that are biodegradable and biocompatible with a large number of bioactive agents.